The castle of Dwyganwy.
Robert at Dwyganwy.
Approach of Gruffydd. July 3, 1088. Here was the old British stronghold of Dwyganwy, famous in early times as the royal seat of Maelgwyn, him who is apostrophized in the lament of Gildas by the name of the dragon—the worm—of the island.[1] That stronghold had now passed into the hands of the Marquess Robert, and had been by him strengthened with all the newly imported skill of Normandy. The castle of Dwyganwy plays a part in every Welsh war during the next two centuries, and we can hardly fancy that much of Robert's work survives in the remains of buildings which are to be traced on both peaks and in the dip between them. But it is likely that at all times the habitable part of the castle lay between the two peaks, while the peaks themselves formed merely military defences. Here then Robert was keeping his headquarters in the opening days of July. At noon on one of the summer days the Marquess was sleeping—between the peaks, we may fancy, whether in any building or in the open air. He was roused from his slumber by stirring tidings. King Gruffydd, at the head of three ships, had entered the mouth of the Conwy; he had brought his ships to anchor; his pirate crews had landed and were laying waste the country. The tide ebbed; the ships stood on the dry land; the followers of Gruffydd spread themselves far and wide over the flat country, and carried prisoners and cattle to their ships.[2] The Marquess rose; he climbed the height im-**
- ↑ Ord. Vit. 670 B. "Incolis Britonibus sævo Marte repulsis, fines suos dilatavit, et in monte Dagaunoth, qui mari contiguus est, fortissimum castellum condidit." Orderic has clearly got hold of the right names and the right incidents; but he has misconceived the topography. Dwyganwy passes as the stronghold of that Maglocunus or Maelgwyn, whom Gildas (Ep. 33) addresses as "insularis draco, multorum tyrannorum depulsor, tam regno quam etiam vita" (cf. Nennius, c. 62, and Ann. Camb. 547, the year of his death). See Giraldus, It. Kamb. ii. 10; Descrip. Kamb. i. 5 (where he calls it "nobile castellum"), vol. vi. pp. 136, 176.
- ↑ Ord. Vit. 670 C. "Interim mare fluctus suos retraxit, et in sicco litore
